EETimes - Apollo - July 20, 2009 - 28

Te a r d o w n : S p a c e s u i t surization and pressurization. The astronauts also wore water-cooled long johns to control temperature in Amanda Young the blazing lunar sunlight. The astronauts wore a pressure bubble helmet under their familiar gold-visored shell, otherwise known as the lunar extravehicular visor assembly. The “over-helmet,” made by LTV, included two visors: one for micrometeorite and UV protection, and the iconic exterior visor, made of polysulfone with a 24-carat gold coating to reduce the visible light entering the helmet and thereby, minimize grasping. But since the suits were heat buildup inside the suit. pressurized and the astronauts had Young said six of the helmets are to perform arduous tasks like pushstill on the moon. ing on lunar core-sample drills, sevLunar boots were actually worn over eral returned to Earth with blood the built-in suit footwear. Lunar blisters under their fingernails. gloves provided extra insulation and The decision to eliminate seats in protection, and included silicone fin- the lunar module to reduce weight gertips so that the moon walkers meant the astronauts had to be secould better “feel” what they were cured to a restraint system on the R R Video Interview floor of the LM via a metal loop between the hip and the knee on the outside of the suit leg. The Apollo astronauts ran, hopped and frequently fell down on the lunar surface, but the suits never leaked, and they protected the astronauts from searing heat in the lunar sun and subzero temperatures in the shadow of their lander. Pondering the prospect of a future human outpost on the moon in an interview with author Andrew Chaikin, Apollo 15 commander Dave Scott praised his A7-LB: “If you asked me, ‘What kind of space suit would you want to wear on the moon, now that we’ve got all these fancy things,’ I’d go back to the museum and get my old one.” Nearly all of the moonwalkers’ suits, preserved in a dingy warehouse near Washington, are embedded with one of the things the astronauts risked their lives for: moon dust. p 28 EE Times | Apollo | July 20, 2009

EETimes - Apollo - July 20, 2009

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